This article relates the findings of a discourse analysis of an online asynchronous interprofessional learning initiative involving two UK universities. The impact of the initiative is traced over three intensive periods of online interaction, each of several weeks duration occurring over a three-year period, through an analysis of a random sample of discussion forum threads. The corpus of rich data drawn from the forums is interpreted using ecological systems theory, which highlights the complexity of

This paper covers two studies that explore student belonging in higher education and how a sense of belonging differs between ethnicity groups.  The research took a mixed methodology approach, collecting both quantitative data via a survey and qualitative data via focus groups.  Study One explored the differential experiences of belonging via the Belongingness Survey (Yorke, 2016), with a group of 941 students.  This was followed by Study Two, which used focus groups to generate a greater understanding of what belonging meant to the students, how belonging developed and to identify barriers to developing a sense of belonging.This work concluded that ethnicity-based differences in students’ sense of belonging are apparent, which mirror the differences that are witnessed at a sector level in degree outcomes.  Additionally, belongingness is found to have an unstable nature in that it waxes and wanes, and can be lost or developed at any part of the student lifecycle.  Some student-identified initiatives to support the development of belonging are presented.  The findings are discussed in the light of the current literature on differential outcomes.

An increasing body of literature considers the role of belonging and social connectivity in undergraduate student success. The core tenet of this research is that relationships are crucial to the development of a sense of belonging. However, within the Higher Education (HE) sector, our processes, and therefore how we interact with students, are becoming more and more automated. None more so than during the Covid-19 pandemic and the ‘new normal’ in HE. This paper considers how we, as a profession, might support each student’s developing sense of belonging within a sector that is shifting towards increased digitalisation. This is achieved through considering the political agenda that drives the creation of digital education and some of the assumptions that underpin the movement towards it. As a result, a theoretical platform is created to consider the areas where digitisation impacts on teaching staff, and on students, and how this relates to each student’s sense of belonging within HE. The inclusion of two case studies has provided the opportunity to answer two key questions: (1) What is important to students developing a personal sense of belonging in HE during their first few weeks in a university? (2) How can the differentiated human touch be provided by ‘third space’ professionals both in person and virtually?

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